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You guys remember the classic Trek series? Every episode some nameless security guard ended up getting blasted into particles by some ticked off alien. Those guys must have had an avg. mission survivial rate that was less than a B-17 tail gunner. They were, in a word, expendable.
I think we're getting there with Ackley. Getting there pretty quickly, in fact.
He isn't showing much in CF. He got Pipped at 2B. And we're not seeing him in LF or at 1B. And his bat stinks.
Beyond that, we have Ty Kelley in Tacoma, who is only hitting .333-461-.452 there. Basically those numbers are exactly what Ackley did in AAA this year. Just about the same number of PA's, too. Kelley has started at 2B, 3B, LF and CF. But let's call him an IF.
Abe Almonte is continuing to whack away (.300-.372-.451) and has played in 441 MiLB games as a CF. He translates nicely to LF, too.
Stefen Romero is down some in AAA (.281-.331-.429), but he hits doubles at a 40+ clip. He plays COF, 2B, 3B and 1B.
All those guys are in-house options who make Ackley and expendable dude. I suppose you keep Ackley into '14, hoping he finds his bat, again. But as a near GG 2B with an100+ OPS+ upside, he might have value in swap-talks, too.
Paired with a prospect arm, we might get something shiny in return. Of helpful, anyway.
I can't see us brining Guti back next year at $7.5M. Renogiate and keep him as a 4th OF, playing only against lefties (and not playing in CFR) might be a nice thing....but I figure he's a goner, an expendable security guard, himself.
Ruling out Choi and Morban for next year leaves us with the same COF whole we've had, one just right for a RH bat.
What would an Almonte-Saunders-Morse OF look like guys? Actually Morse playing fulltime vs. lefties at !B, and getting half the starts in the OF vs RHP would be fine by me, too.
And I still think we sniff at Kyle Banks. Smoak 1B's agains't RHP. Montero DH's 140 times. That leaves 70-80 1B/DH starts for Morse and Banks. Give 'em RF and you get 240 starts between them. You could do lots worse.
Saunders and Almonte play + one of versatile Ackley/Kelley/Romero.
All doable. And decent offensively, too.
2 years ago, Dustin Ackley was our bright and shining light, outside of Felix. The bulb is now considerably dimmer and we have others. It is quite expendable.
moe